1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to towable flatbed trailers which are used, for example, in the towing of snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and the like. More specifically, it discloses novel improvements to a tiltable flatbed trailer which allows two of the invention articles to be axially coupled in a side-by-side arrangement and to be towed or drawn in that configuration by a towing mechanism via a common hitching or drawing point that lies on the center line passing between two of the (invention) trailers, central of their common axle.
2. Discussion of the Relevant Art
For many years, users of motorized sleds, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and similar vehicles have had the requirement to transport these generally recreational vehicles from the site of storage to the site of usage. To accomplish the aforesaid transport function, practically all such vehicle users employ flatbed trailers or the like. In recent years, the common, single, vehicle flatbed trailer has evolved from the short, narrow type to the long-bed, articulating-bed and/or tilting-bed trailer. Further, where some transporters have had reason or cause to place the aforesaid vehicles in side-by-side arrangement, the transporting flatbeds have been considerably widened. Most of the aforesaid modifications, however, have been had at a greater expenditure of materials, mechanical innovation and, of course, money. However, I have now developed a unique improvement to the relatively short and narrow tiltable flatbed trailer which provides a fresh approach to solving the transport problem faced by an owner of a growing sport vehicle fleet who may be required to "size down" a particular trailer assembly once he/she is off major highways onto narrowly restricted passages. Briefly, I acquire this facility by constructing a trailer of the tiltable flatbed type which can be readily coupled in a side-by-side arrangement with another of its kind or quickly detached from such side-by-side configuration and hitched in a conventional tandem arrangement, thereby giving the towing vehicle-trailer ensemble a connective arrangement with at least two points of articulation.
There is an abundance of art, located in the United States Patent Office files, which relates to snowmobile and similar vehicle trailers of the double-bed type. One such trailer is disclosed in a patent issued to Shafer in May 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,896, for a DOUBLE-BED TRAILER. Shafer teaches a double-bed snowmobile trailer that includes an axle assembly, trailer support wheels rotatably mounted to the axle assembly, to rotate about the common axle axis, a pair of trailer beds each mounted to the axle assembly so as to pivot independently of the other about the common axle axis, a single drawbar pivotally connected with respect to the middle of the axle assembly and extending forwardly in a normal relationship to a vertical plane that includes the common axle axis, and finally a hitch for releasably fastening each of the independently tiltable trailer beds to the drawbar in order to prevent rotation of a trailer bed with respect to the drawbar when the entire ensemble is conformed to its in-transit position. Although highly functional, in providing a side-by-side snowmobile transport arrangement, this apparatus nonetheless suffers from the one disadvantage that I have eliminated--both beds of the trailer share a common axle and, thus, the trailer cannot be sized down in order to effect passage along a narrow roadbed or a narrow trail. The Shafer trailer is so large that it necessitates disembarkation of the sport vehicles at any point beyond which the trailer cannot pass. Most notable in the Shafer disclosure is the fact that his primary concern is with creating a trailer mechanism that, in addition to tilting backward to receive the sport vehicle, is also capable of tilting forward so as to (motively) release the sport vehicle. I am not concerned with this facility, even though it preoccupies a great deal of present-day concern, because to do so would necessitate a great deal of additional mechanical structure in order to maintain the spirit of the instant invention. Two other patents, U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,690 issued to Van Slambrouck for a TRAILER FOR SNOWMOBILES and U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,698, issued to Boelter for a TRAILER ASSEMBLY FOR SNOWMOBILES, will now be discussed briefly for their respective teachings of a wide ted trailer using a common axle, which transports snowmobiles in both side-by-side and tandem positions, and a single, narrow bed trailer having two or more axles adapted for carrying snowmobiles in both side-by-side and tandem position. Both the Van Slambrouck and Boelter patents disclose essentially flatbed trailers which have a portion thereof which tilts downward to receive thereonboard the various sport vehicles.
In became quite apparent to me that none of the art which I was able to discover in either the records of the United States Patent Office or the various trailer manufacturers was suitable for the purposes that I had in mind. Briefly, I required a trailer capable of handling at least one snowmobile type of vehicle placed side-by-side relationship so that I could transport a pair or more without undue difficulty. More importantly, when I desired to transport a single snowmobile, or transport one along a very narrow road or passage, I wanted to have the benefit of "shrinking" the width of the side-by-side adapted trailer. It was for these reasons and to obtain the concomitant benefits that I invented and developed the instant invention.